‘Stoga pulls away from Radnor in second half to reach state semis

BRYN MAWR >> It wasn’t like the Conestoga girls needed to be reminded what happened a year earlier, but head coach Amy Orcutt wanted it fresh in her squad’s mind.

Deadlocked at halftime in Saturday’s PIAA 3A Quarterfinal, Orcutt reiterated exactly how the Pioneers’ 2021 lacrosse season ended with a loss to Radnor just one game away from the state final. And ’Stoga channeled that added motivation into scoring seven of the next nine goals, on its way to an 11-8 triumph over the Raptors.

“Amy gave us a talk. ‘Who wants to win it more?’” reported sophomore attacker Ellie Wisch. “(Radnor) ended our season, and we really got motivated from her speech. We felt we owed it to ourselves.”

In all, the Pioneers (22-1 overall) outscored Radnor 7-4 in the second half to move one step closer to a state crown. They will face another Central League rival, Garnet Valley, in the semifinal round on Tuesday at a time and site to be determined.

“We feel like we can win (the state title), but we have to make sure we don’t beat ourselves,” Wisch said.

“Moving on is always exciting, but there are two more big games left,” Orcutt added. “We have to take this one day, and one step at a time.”

It was a crushing end to the season for the Raptors (18-6), the ’21 state champions. Radnor never led in the contest, but did rebound to tie the score after each of Conestoga’s first five goals.

“Playing Radnor is always a challenge,” Orcutt said. “They are one of our longstanding rivals, and after we beat them (12-4) in districts, I knew they were going to come out ready to fight.

“Maintaining possession and momentum in our court, instead of going back-and-forth, was really important. It was an emotional game and it was critical that we stayed one step ahead.”

The Pioneers went 3-0 against the Raptors this season, but Saturday’s battle was much more like the first – a 10-9 squeaker in late March.

“Our players worked hard all season,” said first-year head coach Lis Zuern. “It wasn’t easy to bounce back after the last time we played (Conestoga), but we did it. We made the adjustments and we gave them a game.

“And we showed a lot of grit. Even at 11-6, they didn’t give up.”

At 5-5 early in the second half, ’Stoga finally opened some breathing room with four goals in less than three minutes. During the stretch, Wisch was 5-0 on face offs, and junior star Kate Galica sparked the surge with a power play goal, and then assisted on goals by Wisch and senior Melissa Hewitt.  

“Unfortunately, we were a man-down and the momentum shifted,” Zuern said.

Soon after that Wisch scored off a free position, and it was suddenly 9-5.

Even though Galica was 10-5 on draws in the first half, Orcutt put the 5-foot-11 Wisch in and she went 7-2 the rest of the way. And she got a lot of help from Galica, who moved to the circle.

“Kate is really good in the circle because she can jump high and he is super aggressive. So if I couldn’t get it myself, I tried to get it to her,” Wisch said.

“Ellie is great at the draw – she is tall and can grab it out of the air,” Orcutt explained. “Sometimes just a little change creates a spark that sends a riptide to the whole team. Plus, (Galica) is a ground ball monster.”

Freshman Taylor Murphy ended the streak for Radnor, but Chloe Brown and Kiki Liebezeit added two more for the Pioneers with under seven minutes on the clock.

“We were a little sloppy to start the game, but we turned it around quickly at halftime and I am really proud of our effort,” Orcutt said.

Conestoga had a slight edge in shots on goal (16-13), but had a pronounced advantage overall advantage on draws (17-6).

“(Conestoga has) very good draw-takers and we needed to win the 50-50 balls, and that kind of did us in a little,” Zuern said.

Galica and Wisch paced a balanced attack with three goals each, and Galica added three assists. Brown and Liebezeit each chipped in two goals for ’Stoga.

“(Radnor) knocked us out last year, so we wanted it badly,” Galica said. “We hurt ourselves in the first half with turnovers, but we corrected those small mistakes.”

Sophomore Sarah Kelley led Radnor with three goals. Murphy and senior Amelia Reinholt each registered two goals, and Muphy added two assists.

“The game plan was to keep up the pressure, and the girls did an awesome job,” Zuern said.

Conestoga 11, Radnor 8

Radnor                                  4 4 — 8

Conestoga                            4 7 – 11

Radnor goals: S. Kelley 3, Murphy 2, Reinholt 2, Mamenskis.

Conestoga goals: Liebezeit 2, Brown 2, Wisch 3, Hewitt, Galica 3.

Goalie saves: Jansen (R) 5; Lepore (C) 5.